As I mentioned in an
earlier post, I had the good fortune of visiting our nation’s capital last week—not to partake in the Inaugural festivities (I was two days too late) but to partake in some Absinthe—namely
Mata Hari. That’s because this past week’s Thursday Drink Night event was sponsored by Absinthe Mata Hari, and I joined a few bloggers participating live from the Tabard Inn in D.C.
Much to the disgust of Steve, I had never actually been to Washington before. Well, I shouldn’t exactly say that—once, on a family road trip to North Carolina, my father stopped in D.C. at two in the morning and woke us all up to show us the monuments. This was not a particularly good memory, as it involved being awoken at two a.m. and was soon followed by being pulled over by D.C. police for looking sketchy at two a.m. Nevertheless, I guess it would be better to say I’ve never stayed in D.C.
Thankfully, my first stay in D.C. was a great one, as I thoroughly enjoyed my time at the
Tabard Inn—what a cool place. I have a hard time explaining it to people, but it’s just so funky. It’s a really old building with antique furniture and wood-burning fireplaces, beside which you’d expect to find an old man smoking a pipe (were smoking not prohibited). The whole layout of the Inn is like a crazy labyrinth, with brightly painted walls, dark corners, and loud artwork. I guess that’s not coming out right because it doesn’t really sound that appealing, but trust me, it’s
awesome!
That is, except for one thing—the clown. Yikes. If you have an issue with clowns, avoid room number 55 or this is what you’ll see staring back at you all night. Notice the orb in the upper left-hand portion of the photo. Creeeeeeeeeeeeeepy. Needless to say I did not sleep very well at the Tabard, but it was worth it just to taste the hanger steak with gorgonzola mash and their Pisco Presidential Punch—yum!
For Thursday Drink Night itself, I joined
SeanMike and Marshall down at the bar, where the fabulous Chantal was working her mixology magic. I owe a huge thanks to Chantal, who let us totally hog her bar the whole night, made more than a couple crazy cocktails, and even helped me snake an extension cord around the barware and over the posi machine when my laptop
died. Kudos!
Later,
Rick and Nathan joined us, while Owen, our videographer, documented the whole thing with a flip camera (which I am now totally obsessed with, by the way). I should have the final video this week and will definitely post it as soon as possible so you can see us all in action!
Now let’s get down to it because this post is getting long…the drinks. There were so many it’s hard to keep them all straight, but I know I enjoyed how raspberry and Mata Hari played well together in
Gabriel’s Zelle’s Betrayal (pictured) and I think my favorite of the night was
Rick’s Dead Spy (recipes for both below). For the full list and a transcript of the evening’s activities, keep an eye on the
Mixoloseum blog for an
official wrap-up. Cheers!
Zelle’s Betrayal by Gabriel Szaszko of Cocktailnerd:
1 ½ oz. Rye
½ oz. Absinthe Mata Hari
½ oz. Orange Juice
¼ oz. Sweet Vermouth
¼ oz. Raspberry Syrup
¼ oz. Simple Syrup
3-4 Mint Leaves
Dead Spy by Rick Stutz of Kaiser Penguin:
Swizzle:
1 oz. Lemon Hart 151
1 oz. Appleton Extra
¼ oz. Absinthe Mata Hari
¾ oz. Lime Juice
¼ oz. Cinnamon Syrup
2 dashes Angostura Bitters
